In
researching the history of point
blankets and some insight into how
the point measurements appear in the
trade ledgers don't necessarily
describe the same size blanket one
would find today with the same point
markings.

I'm
still trying to understand the
topic, but close as we can figure --
the value of wool blankets was
measured by their weight during the
fur trade, rather than being
measured by area ( i.e.. 72'' x
90'') as done today. Today, when you
purchase according to point bars you
buy point bars and area dimensions--
not historically equivalents of
blanket sizing. The trade ledgers
indicate if just looking for point
bars that would have been on a
trapper's blankets, you would
purchase 2 1/2 or 3 point bars. This
becomes more complicated when you
study some of the primary historical
sources, (such as Osborne Russell's
personal purchases) the 2 1/2 and 3
point blankets could be purchased as
a "pair". This means one
large blanket still woven together
as it was shipped from the factory.
A 2 1/2 point pair could be
completely different dimension and a
much larger area single blanket than
one would picture using today's
point-bar designation.

Ledgers
don't show trappers purchasing 5 or
6 point blankets, if the trapper
purchase a blanket pair he could
have had a very large blanket that
was proportional much longer and
narrower than today's 5 or 6 point
blankets.

Many
of the early suppliers East of the
Mississippi considered the 3 point
blanket (3 1/2 point - available
today) as a standard stock item for
trade stores in white with black
"strips", white with blue
"strips", white with grey-pale
blue "strips" (these are
really rare and issued for only a
few years around 1800), 4 points
were special order, white with black
"shoots" were special
order also, per Charles Hanson.

The
3 1/2 point blankets are now getting
hard to find today, most use a 4
point for capotes, etc., plus today
we are larger in size than our
forefathers. But the smaller blanket
is something handy in camp or on the
trail as a rap or just extra
padding.

Years
ago Charles Hanson displayed a
"triple" which is very
rare at the museum, said it was only
the second or third time he had ever
seen one, thought it maybe the end
of a "run" of a batch of
wool.

NOTE:
Other uses of these blankets.

The
description of a "French
knapsack" in the "las
artcile" on winter travel
in the Northeast? It's a sack
50" high big enough to get
the lower part of your bedroll
in. It's painted with milk paint
to make it water repellent.
During travel the blankets and
extra cloths are folded inside
and completely protected from
the weather. I have also found
information on outer bags, or
envelopes, being used in the Canadian
north later in the 19th
Century, but haven't documented
yet for pre'1840 in the Rockies.
The narrative the accompanies
these describes them as being
essential to sleeping warm in
windy areas, implying that they
may have been in fairly common
use. I suspect that we often
don't give enough credit to the versatility
of pack covers,
"mantis", or wrapper blankets. When we remember that
the mountain men usually traveled
with large numbers of pack stock, we have to account
for the fabrics they used to
cover the packs that they had to
get into daily for their own
gear. Miller's paintings show
lots of "man tied"
loads at campsites. What all
this tells me is that many other
horse brigade men didn't ever
need to make a bedroll cover
specifically, because they
always had lots of pack covers
available every time the camped,
which they could use over and
under their beds. Even today, I
know a lot of experienced
wilderness horse packers who
depend only on their manti's for
shelter after the mosquitoes
thin out so that they no longer
need a tent to protect them from
the bugs.
C.
L.

Here's
how the trade began with these
enterprising gentlemen.

Radisson
and Grosseilliers (both born in
France) were among the first men to
successfully reach the Hudson's Bay
where they discovered that the
majority of furs came from the
northern forests. The newly
discovered bay gave the easiest port
access to this rich fur area. They
traveled to France to obtain support
in a major trading venture out of
the bay. When no interest was shown
in France, Grosseilliers and
Radisson traveled to London to
secure financial support. In 1667
Prince Rupert (cousin of Charles II)
showed an interest in the venture.
In the next two years ships were
dispatched for Hudson's Bay.

A
1725 invoice listing merchandise for
a trade company in Green Bay listed
2-point blankets, and a 1766 invoice
from a Philadelphia company listed
4-point, 3-point and 2 1/2-point
watch coats. It is generally
accepted that the practice of
hand-weaving points into blankets
for the Hudson's Bay Company,
started in 1780 with Thomas Empson,
who was the principal supplier of
blankets for the HBC. Point
blankets are seen in most of the
surviving inventories and invoices
from the North West Company,
Hudson's Bay Company and many of the
Rocky Mountain fur trading
companies.

Early's
of Witney was founded in 1669 and is
still in production. They have
been providing high quality wool
blankets for the Indian trade from
the late 17th or early 18th century.
Receiving their first contract to
provide blankets to the Hudson's Bay
Company in 1805. Only
difference between an Early's of
Witney and a HBC blanket is
the label. Early's of Witney
blankets are twill woven of 100%
virgin wool with an extra weight of
yarn, referred to as
"Kersey twill". The
wool fibers of these blankets are
teased to produce an extra thick
nap, then hand-finished.

Here's
a few items to look for:

Any
blanket:

Hudson's
Bay "Point"
Blanket Labels:

condition,
condition, condition

1890
- present: bears their
"coat of arms"

weight
and fullness of weave

last
line: "The Seal of
Quality"

ask
another's opinion

1920's:
"Made in England"
added below "coat of
arms"

ask
seller about thickness &
weight

later:
reads "100% Wool"

check
color combinations

1980's:
"Laine" added to
label

check
size compared to
"points"

recent:
"CA00234" as last
line

return
policy of seller

2000:
label reads "Dry clean
only"

A
Note on Multistripe or
Hudson's Bay Pattern
Blankets

We
received a request for
information from a woman who
had given her father a
modern HBC blanket with four
differently colored stripes
at either end. He had taken
it to a rendezvous whose
some Star Chamber committee
on authenticity informed him
he couldn't use it because
it wasn't rendezvous period.
It gives me great pleasure
to inform all the experts
out there that in 1799 the
Hudson's Bay Company post at
Albany River ordered
"Pointed Blankets to be
striped Red Blue Green &
Yellow" (HBC Records,
Section A Class 27, Orders
1799-Goods for Posts.
Manitoba Provincial
Archives, Winnipeg). For
diehards, here are two more:
in 1831, York Factory
ordered "fine HB
striped 3-1/2 blue, green,
red & yellow stripes
100," and in 1830, the
Columbia district, which
included most of HBC's
Northwest Coast and it's
beaver trapping brigades,
ordered "Blankets-Fine
HB striped, Blue, Green, Red
and yellow stripes"
(HBC Records, Microfilm Reel
375, Indent Books 1826-31).JAH

MUSEUM
OF THE FUR TRADE QUARTERLY

VOLUME
39, NUMBER 1
ISSN 0027-4135 SPRING
2003

The
name "Hudson's Bay blanket" is
commonly used to describe any point blanket in
today's society; example in 1819 Office of
Indian Trade order listed 2-1/2 point blankets
in three qualities: NW @ $5.85, large extra
heavy @ $5.40, and Mackinac @ $4.61+1/4.
Different grades of point blankets were
determined by variations in size, nap (raised or
finished both sides), amount of wool used.
Regular blankets were of "ordinary and
middle" wool with better quality ones using
"fleece and tail" wool.
(Montgomery,p.375).

North
West Company (NW) blanket. American term for
a point blanket of superior size, weight and
quality.

Mackinaw
blanket. Canadian term for second quality
point blanket of large size but light of
weight. (Avis,p.455).

Mock
Mackinaw blanket. A term for second quality
Mackinaw blankets, so defined in 1824 US
government order (Hanson,p.6).

Hudson
Bay blanket. Old term for white blanket with
multiple stripes in different colors at each
end.

The
French sold "point" blankets in white,
blue, red and green, mentioned in supply lists
and journals about 1694, also noted in French
Louisiana in 1702 lists. North West Co. used
French system as did the Americans (found in
Revolutionary War records - point blankets being
used). Hudson's Bay did not offer
"point" blankets until 1780.

It
seems that everyone has an opinion on the
size of the "point" blanket, they
very quit a bit when reading the
measurements of different folk's blankets
and what they are referred to it for number
of points. We have seen the HBC 4 point
blanket shown from 68" X 86" to
76" X 94", these blankets had to
either shrink or stretch according to
Hudson's Bay Company advertising literature
stating a 4 pt blank at 72" X 90".
The only French blanket size found by
researchers has been a "two point"
measuring 59" x 48" with a weight
of 3 lb. 7 oz. (Brain,p.298).

The
'point' system has been a point of
discussion as to when first started by
researchers for years, an article written in
1935 did not help, found in "The
Beaver" magazine - stated,
"the 'point' on the blanket, in its
present standardized form is comparatively
modern, being introduced in 1850. Prior to
that date blankets for Hudson's Bay Company
were made with the bar, a 'point', on his
product to show the size and weight. These
colors were in different coloured wools and
usually about one inch
long".(Mackay,p.46). Office of Indian
Trade instructions in 1809 stated the points
should be as long as a finger (three or four
inches). Points today are five or more
inches long. (Hanson,p.7).

Here
are measurements for the different
"point" blankets and weights
issued by their companies and our
government.

U.S.
Office of Indian Trade

American
Fur Company

1809

size

"point"

weight

63"
x 77-1/2"

(3-1/2) "point"

n/a

54"
x 70-1/2"

(3) "point"

n/a

46"
x 62"

(2-1/2) "point"

n/a

43"
x 53"

(2) "point"

n/a

41-1/2"
x 50"

(1-1/2) "point"

n/a

39-1/2"
x 43"

(1) "point"

n/a

1840

size

"point"

weight

60"
x 74"

(3) "point"

n/a

52"
x 66"

(2-1/2) "point"

n/a

56"
x 66"

(2) "point"

n/a

36"
x 50"

(1-1/2) "point"

n/a

32"
x 46"

(1) "point"

n/a

Hudson's
Bay Company

Hudson's
Bay Company

1838

size

"point"

weight

70"
x 86"

(4) "point"

n/a

6
2" x 78"

(3-1/2) "point"

n/a

56"
x 66"

(3) "point"

n/a

56"
x 66"

(2-1/2) "point"

n/a

50"
x 60"

(2) "point"

n/a

38"
x 50"

(1-1/2) "point"

n/a

1850

size

"point"

weight

100"
x 108"

(8) "point"

9.75
lbs.

90"
x 98"

(6-1/2) "point"

7.75
lbs.

86"
x 96"

(6) "point"

7.50
lbs.

74"
x 96"

(4-1/2) "point"

6.75
lbs.

72"
x 90"

(4) "point"

6.50
lbs.

63" x 80"

(3-1/2) "point"

5.75
lbs.

61"
x 74"

(3) "point"

5.50
lbs.

56" x 66"

(2-1/2) "point"

4.75
lbs.

50"
x 60"

(2) "point"

4.50
lbs.

38" x 51"

(1-1/2) "point"

3.75
lbs.

Early's
of Witney Company

Early's
of Witney Company

1900

size

"point"

weight

72"
x 90"

(4) "point"

n/a

6
3" x 81"

(3-1/2) "point"

n/a

60"
x 72"

(3) "point"

n/a

50"
x 66"

(2-1/2) "point"

n/a

42"
x 57"

(2) "point"

n/a

36"
x 51"

(1-1/2) "point"

n/a

1950

size

"point"

weight

90"
x 100"

(6) "point"

8
lbs.

80"
x 95"

(5) "point"

7
lbs.

72"
x 90"

(4) "point"

6
lbs.

60"
x 90"

(3-1/2) "point"

5
lbs.

42"
x 60"

(1-1/2) "point"

4
lbs.

Point
assignment was not absolutely standard
as was weight of blankets from the
manufacturers because of the nature of
the shrinkage process, they were more
of an approximation of an intended
standard size and weight.